An alternative to gasoline as fuel is needed badly. Many technologies exist, but most development has begun so recently, that much more time and money is needed to replace gas. In prior gas shortages people have used one technology not often talked about, called woodgas. Woodgas is a gas that is made by heating wood until it chemically changes into a clean burnable gas and a solid coal. Vehicles can be run off of woodgas as well as very clean burning heaters with no smoke. One downfall with the setup is the need for a “furnace” to “cook” the vapor out of the wood. Placement of the wood inside the furnace is very critical as is the way the air enters and exits the device. The airflow is usually throttled to control the rate of conversion into the gas. Many people used trucks or small trailers for the room to process the wood. Due to the efficient gas, a piece of wood can last for quite awhile longer than a burning piece of wood.

It is relatively easy to convert a small gasoline engine to propane or natural gas. There are lpg/propane kits designed to make this conversion easy. They generally consist of a simple plate that sits between the carb and the engine. A regulator is usually attached to regulate the propane going to the spacer plate. The regulator is needed to supply more fuel as the load or power demand increases. Instead of the engine bogging down, the regulator supplies more fuel so the engine makes more power. Propane or lpg is already in a gaseous form, which does not have to vaporize and will not leave carbon deposits. Carbon is bad because it is hard and leaves deposits which cause engine wear. Carbon makes your oil black and breaks the oil down faster. Producing less carbon should dramatically increase an engine’s life. Power and fuel consumption are very similar to using gasoline. The power will vary depending on what engine it is being used on. Mileage will be similar, but could be better than a stock carburetted engine. Propane tanks are usually safe and are very resistant to impact. The tanks will vent if the internal pressure gets too high, for safety. Many people like to convert generators to natural gas/ propane. They use the same source as their home’s fuel source for heat. When the power goes out, they have a limitless supply of fuel without having to refill a generator tank up with gas cans. Conversion kits can be reasonably priced and bought online.

Many commercial vehicles have converted to CNG (compressed natural gas)and LPG (propane). CNG is similar to propane except that there are not very many places to refuel at. There are many benefits to running either of these fuels instead of regular gasoline. The cost per mileage of propane is cheaper overall than gasoline. Unfortunately the overall range will probably be lessened due to the slightly lower BTU’s or energy within the fuel. Luckily refilling propane is not a big deal and there are refueling stations all over. Also if this conversion is done on a currently carbureted vehicle, the conversion could actually increase the mileage. Regular gasoline needs to be atomized or turned into a fine mist to burn cleanly. Regular carburetors don’t do a very good job of atomizing gasoline. The propane is already in a gaseous form after it un compresses. Propane will mix and burn evenly and very efficiently in the engine. This is why emissions of HC, CO and NOX are drastically reduced.

There is a current interest in fuel conservation among consumers today as fuel prices have finally soared in the united states. With our heritage of large automobiles and trucks, we have been lucky for some time now as we have evaded high fuel prices for a long time. Eventually this day had to come but what now? Some people say that fuel cell technologies will pave the way. This may be true but this is probably 10 or more years off in the future. Full electric cars would be alot more efficient, but batteries are still costly and heavy for now. Although this can’t be counted out as capacitor technologies may offer an alternative in the near future. Still, what until then? Hybrid technologies make sense and can use the advantages of an engine and motor combination. Hybrids are still a compromise due to the inefficient engine, what can we do to improve it? Many are quick to say the internal combustion engine is at the end of the road, but is it? More than a decade ago engines had been produced that could exceed 100 mpg. Why have these milestones been thrown aside?

Alternative fuels are continuously being looked at. Propane or LPG cars are already currently being used on buses and taxi cabs. Alcohol or ethanol can be produced from corn or other carbon based by products. Methanol is being replaced by ethanol in racing. Although it is a cleaner fuel the cost is generally higher and can be corrosive. It is already being mixed with gas in some places but only at a 10 percent mixture. MTBE is a manmade molecular chain gasoline, but has no real environmental advantage other than possibly elongating how long our oil supply lasts. The most exciting fuel is hydrogen. It can burn and only release water as a by product. The problem comes with the storage of the hydrogen. In order to have enough volume of hydrogen gas it has to be highly compressed. This is a little difficult as conventional compressors are not suited to this task. Most compressors only compress to 3000 psi, whereas 10,000 psi would be great for hydrogen storage. All cars could be converted to run with hydrogen.

Many full electric cars have been made. Full electric vehicles have an underlying problem, that being the batteries. One issue is the amount of time needed to charge the batteries. This is not always an issue as technologies continue to improve. The battery weight has always been an issue and is always being improved. Major improvements have come from battery technologies in laptop computers. Price is also a large consideration, as lighter batteries tend to cost more. With weight comes two problems, lack of acceleration and lack of range. These problems can only be contradicted with a bigger motor and or more batteries. Range has generally really been the main problem with electric cars as the average car can go 300 miles. Where as an electric may have a range of 80 miles. Also people would not know where to plug in their cars, And would not want to have to wait for the car to charge . Here is where the hybrid offers such an advantage.

The whole point of a hybrid is to be less fuel dependent. Other than just focusing on the electric side of things, the engine is still contributes in overall efficiency. Part of the advantage of the motor is that it delivers large amounts of torque. This enables the engine to be much smaller, which means the throttle has to be opened more to move down the road. While this sounds like a bad thing, it actually increases the efficiency. An engine does not become efficient until it has high turbulance in the combustion chamber. Higher volume and faster air flow create turbulance which does a good job of burning in the cylinder. The engine can lack in torque because it is much smaller displacement engine, and still feel good because the electric motor accelerates the car also. The accord is also using a technology once used by cadillac. It shuts off certain cylinders from firing at light load conditions, like driving up the highway at one speed. This enables the engine to burn less fuel because not as much gas is being used. While this system didn’t work well for cadillac with 70′s technology, I’m sure honda has done their homework and used the latest technology to make this work.